Minister of Public Works and Transport Ali Hamiyeh said in a post on X Thursday morning that the airport is operating “normally,” without adding more details. The airport strikes coincided with a wave of air raids in the Haret Hreik area of Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as Dahiyeh. The Israeli army said in a statement that its fighter jets targeted Hezbollah command centers and military infrastructures located in civilian areas in Beirut overnight. UNIFIL casualties Later on Thursday, at least three people were killed when an Israeli drone strike hit a car at the entrance of the southern city of Sidon. Five UN peacekeeping forces (UNIFIL) were injured in the attack that struck near their vehicle, the UN mission said in a statement, while three Lebanese soldiers were also wounded, according to the army.

Another drone strike hit a vehicle in the Jamhour area as it drove down a major road connecting Beirut to the Bekaa Valley in the east and neighbouring Syria. According to local media, the woman driving the car died, and two other individuals in the area were hurt. According to unconfirmed accounts, the victim was the wife of Naim Qassem, Hezbollah’s newly appointed secretary general. Meanwhile, Hezbollah announced in separate announcements that it fired a barrage of missiles against multiple military facilities in northern Israel on Thursday. Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel have been exchanging fire since October 8, 2023. Last month, Israel escalated its campaign against the group by launching a ground invasion in southern Lebanon. At least 3,050 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the past year in Lebanon, and over 13,658 others have been injured, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry.

In Israel, 72 people have been killed in Hezbollah attacks, including 30 soldiers, according to the prime minister’s office. Thursday’s strikes came one day after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election, with many pinning hopes that the former president would work toward an end of the war in Lebanon. Trump’s in-law Massad Boulos, a prominent Lebanese-American businessman and father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany, said in an interview with the local Al-Jadeed television channel on Wednesday that the new president-elect is committed to ending the war in Lebanon and will “fulfill the promises” he made to the Lebanese people. In a post on the Truth Social media platform last week, Trump vowed to “stop the suffering and destruction in Lebanon,” adding, “I look forward to working with the Lebanese community living in the United States of America to ensure the safety and security of the great people of Lebanon.”

Boulos also told Al-Jadeed that he will negotiate with the Lebanese side to achieve a cease-fire in Lebanon. In recent months, the Biden administration has been trying to secure a compromise between Israel and Hezbollah to stop the conflict. Amos Hochstein, the United States’ special ambassador to the Middle East, is conducting shuttle diplomacy between the two countries, visiting Beirut and Tel Aviv alternately. His most recent visit to Beirut, on October 21, had no results, as Lebanese officials appeared to reject a proposal that apparently grants Israel the authority to enforce a cease-fire. On Wednesday, informed sources told Al-Jadeed that Hochstein will return to Beirut “within a week to complete the initiative he presented to parliament speaker Nabih Berri, which aims to reach a diplomatic solution between Lebanon and Israel.” The same sources said no meetings have been scheduled so far, but Hochstein will “certainly” visit Beirut.